Leah's Yard is a former collection of small industrial workshops situated on Cambridge Street in the city centre of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The building has been designated as a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

because of its importance as an example of Sheffield's industrial heritage and is currently undergoing a significant restoration to bring it back into use.Sheffield's listed buildings
", Sheffield Council website (2010). Retrieved 13 October 2010.

History

Leah's Yard was constructed in the early part of the 19th century as a works for the manufacture of shears and other hand tools. As was typical with small works of this type. Leah's Yard had many different trade occupants and as such the building underwent many alterations and additions which are evident today. Throughout the 19th century the yard was used by a

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

dealer (who supplied the cutlery handle making trade), Sheffield platers, knife manufacturers and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

stampers. In the 1880s the building was known as the Cambridge Street Horn Works. In 1892 Henry Leah took over the building as a producer of die stamps for silverware, giving the building the name that it is known by today. Sharing the building at that time was Walter Walker & Co Ltd, who were piercers and stampers; the building was alternatively known as the Cambridge Stamping Works.''"One Great Workshop: The Buildings of the Sheffield Metal Trade"'', English Heritage, , Page 38. At the end of the 19th century steam power was introduced to run a

grinding Grind is the cross-sectional shape of a blade. Grind, grinds, or grinding may also refer to: Grinding action * Grinding (abrasive cutting), a method of crafting * Grinding (dance), suggestive club dancing * Grinding (video gaming), repetitive and ...

hull and drop hammers in a silver die stamping shop. The key to the success of buildings such as Leah's Yard was that they could be adapted to provide accommodation for a number of different metal industry trades on the same site. They provided adaptable, cheap work space by crowding buildings into a confined area. By 1905, the workshops around the courtyard of Leah's Yard were occupied by eighteen

little mester A little mester is a self-employed worker who rents space in a factory or works from their own workshop. They were involved in making cutlery or other smallish items such as edge tools (i.e. woodworking chisels). The term is used almost exclusivel ...

s whose trades included dram flask manufacturer, hollow ware and silver buffers,

palette knife A palette knife is a blunt tool used for mixing or applying paint, with a flexible steel blade. It is primarily used for applying paint to the canvas, mixing paint colors, adding texture to the painted surface, paste, etc., or for marbling, decora ...

makers, steel fork manufacturer, silver

ferrule A ferrule (a corruption of Latin ' "small bracelet", under the influence of ' "iron") is any of a number of types of objects, generally used for fastening, joining, sealing, or reinforcement. They are often narrow circular rings made from me ...

maker,

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

and

nickel silver Nickel silver, Maillechort, German silver, Argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata, alpacca, is a copper alloy with nickel and often zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver does not contain the eleme ...

turners, electroplate producer and a cutler.''"Pevsner Architectural Guides - Sheffield"'', Ruth Harman & John Minnis, , Pages 99 & 100.

The building

The front of the Leah's Yard building which faces onto Cambridge Street has a carriage entrance within it, this opens up into a small rear courtyard surrounded by small two and three storey brick workshops. There are external wooden staircases to give access to the upper floors and large casement windows to give plenty of natural light for the workmen.

Present day

Until recently Leah's Yard stood in a derelict state, having not been used for over 20 years when the lower floor was used as a shop. The building is located between two public houses on Cambridge Street, The Benjamin Huntsman and The Tap and Tankard. The Benjamin Huntsman was constructed recently with older buildings being cleared to make way for the pub. The Leah's Yard buildings were left standing because of their listed building status. The site is part of Sheffield City Council's Heart of The City II project, and in February 2021 it was announced that Sheffield Science Park Company, which operates the similar premises Sheffield Technology Parks, had been successful in their bid to refurbish and operate Leah's Yard.

References

{{Listed buildings in Sheffield Industrial buildings completed in the 19th century Industrial buildings and structures in Sheffield Grade II* listed buildings in Sheffield